Plating Aluminium Sheets, Brass and Copper With Dragondroff Reagent (Bismuth) for Art.

I am plating a mixture of potassium iodide and bismuth chloride in hydrochloric acid. I am using for the positive the copper wire and first aluminum sheets in dragondroff reagent. I did the same thing with brass sheets (positive is copper wire and negative is the brass.

Finally, for the Copper sheets, I reversed the polarity (negative is the wire, and positive is the copper sheets.)

Note about power. Set the power to 3 to 4 volts and the current should be a few amps. As the bismuth layer thickens Resistance drops and the voltage will increase to 8 to 9 volts around 0.5 to 2 amps.

Supplies

Here are the chemicals and supplies that are needed for this project.

Chemicals:

31.45% Hydrochloric acid.

100% pure Bismuth trioxide.

Potassium iodide 98% purity or greater.

Water. Distilled water is recommended.

Aluminum sheets.

Brass sheets.

Copper sheets.

Urethane coat mix paint.

Equipment.

2 L glass Pyrex measuring cup.

1 L beaker is Optional since a 1L Pyrex measuring cup will also do.

30-volt, 2 Amp adjustable power supply.

Epoxy, silicone-like epoxy material. Check Amazon, eBay or maybe Etsy.

Copper strand wire. Hanging the sheets (optional).

Step 1: Preparing the Solution Dragondroff Reagent for Alumunium Sheets. the Sheets Must Be Urethane Plated.

First, we need to prepare a dragondroff reagent stock. We dissolve 10 g of Bismuth oxide into 150 ml ish of 31.45% hydrochloric acid. Be careful with concentrated hydrochloric acid it is very corrosive, and toxic and produces potent and very irritating fumes!

To a cup add 200 ml of 10 grams of potassium iodide and stir well. The acid must be added with water and potassium iodide crystals.

To 2 L of tap water add the 350 ml ish of orange dragondroff reagent.

This is an alternative if u have nitric acid but in Quebec, Canada this acid is restricted.

ttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hDfN5xusf0E

We then add the power supply up and add copper wire (positive) and the aluminum sheet is negative. This type of electroplating is fast and bismuth will plate to the aluminum quite quickly. Set the voltage to 3 to 3.5 v and the current 1 amp. The current and voltage will quickly rise to 9 volts 1 to 1.5 amps. This is normal for this procedure.

A can of urethane PLATE must be applied to the coated bismuth-plated sheets.

In the video i originally added a smaller concentration of KI and BCl3. i increased in trials the Bi2O3 to 10 g and 10 g KI. Bi2O3 in concentrated hcl. This enhances the product.

Step 2: Preperation for the Brass Plating Procedure and Urethane Coating.

Again the preparation of dragondroff reagent is exactly the same as the aluminum setup. We use the same procedure for positive and negative. Proper polarity is very important. The positive lead is copper and negative is the brass!

The voltage again 3 to 4 volts and around 1 amp. Again the voltage as the bismuth coats will increase to 9 volt 1 amp.

We need to let the coat of bismuth dry for 1 day then carefully apply the urethane.

Step 3: Preparing the Plate of Copper With Bismuth.

Copper polarity is different than your normal brass or aluminum plating. Because we are basically using the exact same metal Copper the electro potential of these metal ions when in an acid solution is harder to predict.

The copper wire or electrode is negative and desired plate is positive.

Step 4: Conclusions to This Project.

I never thought and neither have my science instagram friends thought Plating Dragondroff reagent to water and plate bismuth to Aluminum, Brass and Copper would be possible. However it is.

Why I am Plating bismuth for Art really since it makes nice colors and patterns.

One amazing result for the aluminum plating was the dragondroff reagent evaporating off and coating a dragondroff type plate over the aluminum.

These pieces can be cut into smaller pieces and put into picture frames or hung on wires with some type of epoxy.